Grand Canyon + Isolation Canyon

So we’ve finally moved out of Arizona and onto a new state: the Beehive State, Utah! But before we leave Arizona completely, here’s a few last places we visited: the Grand Canyon (of course!) and Isolation Canyon, a cool word-of-mouth climbing area 70 miles Southeast of Flagstaff.

Hanging out on the South Rim…we took lots of pictures of the Grand Canyon but I figure one is sufficient: there’s lots of nice pictures of this big hole on the internet Anyway, I was really impressed with it – I was just staring at the colors and shadows for about 15 minutes. Joanne, on the other hand, said it wasn’t all that impressive!! She thought the colors of Sedona were prettier (and she’s probably right but still – I thought the Grand Canyon was amazing!)

Before we left Arizona we met a really nice Flagstaff climber named Brad. We ran into him in the Superstition Mountains and then again at The Pit in Flagstaff. He invited us to go check out Isolation Canyon, an area where he’s put up a few routes and I had heard a bit about. The climbing was really superb and an area that I’m sure climbers will hear more about in the future. The rock is super hard Quartzite (some kind of compressed sandstone I think??) with lots of positive edges. But the nicest part is the length: the pitches are usually around 80-130′ with routes up to 3 pitches long. And the canyon is a really beautiful place to hang out.

Joanne climbing the lower part of The Steller Arete (10/10+), one of Brad’s routes. Joanne and I both really enjoyed this climb, featuring some really fun, aesthetic moves on the arete up high.

Joanne pulling over the starting bulge on Life On the Drop (10-). You can get a feel for how big the walls are from this view.

Matt eyes a loose-looking block on Footprints in the Sand (5.10-ish). This mixed route features thought-provoking face moves on a 130-foot long pitch.

Joanne taking a ride on the Angel Wing (10-) – at least I think that was the name…

Besides showing us this cool climbing area, Brad was nice enough to let us borrow some of his big wall gear for our next destination: Zion. Thanks Brad – and we’ll be sure you get your gear back!!

Route Info + Beta!
Best time to climb? Probably climbable most of the year. Might be cold in the winter?

Climbing Quality: Interesting routes on solid rock. Mostly sport climbing with a few gear/mixed routes. This was one of Joanne’s favorite climbing areas we visited. Well worth a visit for a weekend or longer.

Camping: We didn’t stay overnight here but the area around the parking lot seems pretty low-key: I don’t think you’d have any problem setting up a tent.

As of Dec ‘08 this was still a bit of a local’s secret. So until a guide is published you’ll probably need to find someone to take you there. The good news is that the Arizona locals are friendly and if you’re really set on climbing here, you’ll probably be able to find someone willing to climb with you.

Flagstaff, AZ: National Monuments + Paradise Forks

So I’ll start this post with our little epic that occurred this morning: today is our rest day so we decided to drive the RV into Flagstaff to hang out and run a few errands. Whoa, what the heck is the RV doing? Well, Matt didn’t realized the ground was so soft and got the RV stuck in it. We couldn’t get it out no matter what so we have to resort to calling AAA for help. Unfortunately since we are not on paved ground, AAA does not cover the towing. They did set us up with a local towing company and got the RV out finally. There goes $250 just when we were thinking of buying another set of TCUs to climb in Zion. I blame it on Matt for his stupidness :p.Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Apparently RVs weren’t designed for offroad driving Note the front wheel is totally stuck in the mud.

Thanks Larry! Now here’s $250! *argh*

Wupatki! Wupatki! It rolls off the tongue and, to me, sounds like someone getting smacked. But no, Wupatki National Monument is the location of some beautiful ruins near Flagstaff, AZ. I’ve probably got the details and dates all wrong but this area was occupied by ancestors of the Hopi people some 700-800 years ago. These ruins were excavated by the park service and preserved for visitors to enjoy and wonder.

The best view of the entire village. A number of buildings clumped together can be seen on the left. A possible community meeting place stands just to the right, a large circle with a firering in the middle. And behind, if you look carefully, is a small oval-shaped structure which appears to be a ball court for a soccer-like game.

Joanne’s enjoying the meeting area here. If you sit at opposite sides of the circle you can talk quietly and still be heard by listeners on the other side – the acoustics are quite good.

The buildings themselves were constructed around an existing rock formation. So you’ll see the rock poking out of the buildings or forming walls and roofs in certain rooms.

Here’s some pottery from the nearby Homolovi Ruins: this area was kind of interesting for a quick stop (plus the State Park there has showers!). There were very few structures to see since it has not been excavated like Wupatki, but there is a massive amount of pottery shards strewn across the ground. Some of the patterns used in the pottery were quite complex and beautiful.

After visiting Petrified Forest and three national monuments around Flagstaff we were ready to go climbing again. Our next destination: Paradise Forks! This place is very appropriately named: two rivers come crashing down into this canyon and merge. With the shade from the Ponderosa Pines and the roar of the waterfalls and no one around for miles it truly is paradise.

Climbing Quality: Sustained crack climbing on solid pro in an amazing canyon. What else do you want?

Camping: I think there’s a pay campground but it’s pretty easy to find free camping…especially when the road is covered with snow.

Here’s one of the waterfalls at Paradise Forks. The stream here drops over the edge about 70 feet: while we were here the river was roaring and was really impressive. In the background you can see some of the basalt cliffs.

Here’s Joanne about to rappel into the canyon at The Prow. Paradise Forks is a bastion of traditional climbing ethics so you won’t find any bolts here. You rappel into the canyon and climb out. It’s a good idea to bring an extra rope to fix to a tree to save time since you’ll be rappelling after every route.

The crack climbs here are some of the most exceptional we’ve seen anywhere and the lines are inspiring. The basalt is of similar quality to Smith’s Lower Gorge, although the cracks here are even more smooth and parallel, with more straight-in cracks (less stemming). The only downside? It’s not a beginner climbing area and we had some trouble finding good warm-up routes. The climbs are physical and even the easiest routes are very stiff 5.9s. We found ourselves totally exhausted after 4 or 5 routes. Just to give you an idea of what we think about routes here, we both feel that if you placed Smith Rock’s Karate Crack here it would be a 5.8 (instead of it’s 10a rating at Smith) – Yikes! On the other hand, we didn’t feel much difference between feel the 5.9 and 5.10s here. Even The Prow (5.11-) felt like a 5.10. You can almost lump all the “moderates” together and call them 5.10 .

The best routes that we’ve climbed here? We liked Mayflower 5.9, East of Eden 5.10, Jolly Roger 5.10, The Prow 5.11-. Although just about everything here would be a classic at any other crag.

The water was pounding the Gold Wall when we were there. This is the smaller of the two waterfalls: a very beautiful place.

Here’s a parting shot of another Flagstaff crag, the Oak Creek Overlook. The climbing is much easier than Paradise Forks and with great views of the canyon, it’s definitely worth spending a day at. The best routes here are Isiah, a steep 5.9 handcrack and the Trinity Cracks (shown above, three fantastic 5.10-/5.10 thin hand cracks right next to each other)

Jacks Canyon

*Warning* Boring climbing post ahead!

While out near Petrified Forest we spent five days climbing in Jacks Canyon and had a surprisingly good time. I wasn’t sure what I would think of the climbing, especially considering the reputation of the place. Drilled/comfortized holds, bolted cracks, bolts every five feet, short routes: it doesn’t sound exactly like a climbing paradise to me but the routes were entertaining (and so were the grades! Well at least some of them…). The rock is high quality limestone and the routes tend to climb like bolted boulder problems with short, physical cruxes. Also, the canyon is quite beautiful and makes for a great setting.

The stream that cuts through the canyon was exceptionally high while we were there. The main wall was completely inaccessible and the water was deep and very fast; fortunately, someone had setup a tyrolean across the river. Unfortunately, they didn’t anticipate exactly how high the water would be. When crossing the river, the rope stretched enough that my backside ended up getting a little wet. Well, it could have been worse! The water level went down our last two days, making the crossing much more relaxing. Visiting climbers might consider making Jacks a stop: you might even have fun on a bolted crack (The horror!). Here were some routes that should put a smile on your face: Betty Cracker 8, Sports Book 10-, Dealer’s Choice 10-, Claim to Fame 10-, Crosstown Traffic 10, Genesis 10, Jack and the Beanstalk 10, Jack of All Trades 10+, Six Shooter 11- Some of the grades here may have been adjusted to reflect our opinions .

Regarding Jacks Canyon, Joanne says

“Both of us agree that the grading system in Jack’s Canyon is definitely a little soft. Not so much that the routes are easy but more because most of the route has 1 crux move, short and not sustain. Matt actually onsited his first 5.12a which is to both our surprises. We did not have the guide book handy (stored in computer) so we merely just pick a route and climb and check the rating later on. And I also got my first 5.11b redpoint after spending some time working on the crux moves . I also think that the grading here are a little funky sometime. For comparison, Matt has been working on another 5.12a and after the 3rd day, he gave up on it because it was just a little too hard for him. And I on the other hand couldn’t even make some of the move on another 5.11a route. Maybe some routes are soft and some aren’t I guess. But this place is definitely a great place for beginner climber because the routes are very well bolted (as in very very well bolted compared to Smith Rock). You can almost always able to clip the first bolt after making 1 small move from the ground and the bolts are about 6 ft away from each other so not too much worry about falling. Also as long as you are climbing your grade, whenever you need a hold there always seems to be something right there. Sometimes I wonder if the holds are real or man-made . “

Here’s Matt testing the waters out on the Tyrolean at Jacks Canyon. It was really hard for him to stay dry!

Just three days later the water level had dropped way down again – you can see Joanne is nowhere close to touching the water!

Matt and Yogi playing with shadows on the road to Jacks Canyon.

Route Info + Beta!
Climbing Quality: OK, the climbing is actually pretty good – certainly better than what I was expecting. But seriously, the routes are way too short. The grid-bolting is a bit obnoxious – a few months have passed since we climbed there and not a single route or even a single MOVE sticks out in my mind.

Camping: At least the camping is awesome, perched on the canyon rim. It’s free and there’s even a pit toilet! No water. Judging from some of the ridiculous ruts in the road, this is not a place you want to be after heavy rains.

Rest day activities: Go explore the canyon. There’s some other roads in the area that access the canyon in other places. While taking a LONG walk one day I spied a great looking wall but the river was too high for me to get close enough to check them out. Based on trails in the area, I’m fairly certain it’s seen some development but I can’t believe it’s not the “main attraction” in the canyon! Other than that you could get drunk. There’s really nothing else to do here!

Life on the Road, Sedona Pictures

We thought we’d spend a little time in this post to give you an idea of how life on the road is treating us. As you can tell, we’ve been climbing a lot: when the weather (and our muscles) permit we climb two days then take a day of “rest”. A rest day is pretty much anything but climbing and isn’t always restful – like hiking 14 miles. Some rest days truly are restful – I often wake up and cook pancakes or bacon and eggs for breakfast. We then might spend the rest of the day lounging around, maybe taking Yogi out for a walk or two.

We’ve both taken advantage of our new found free time; Joanne has learned to crochet and is working on an afghan. Although right now she’s been sidetracked by some books she’s been reading. Hopefully the afghan will get done and it will keep us nice and warm. Or maybe it will just end up as a scarf! (December ‘08 Update: she hasn’t worked on the afghan in many months. Never to be finished?) I’ve been working on my Chinese, trying (again) to learn the language. Progress is slow but I’m able to study it every couple of days: maybe next time I visit Malaysia I’ll be able to say a few more words. If only I knew some Cantonese! (December ‘08 Update: I’ve forgotten most of what I learned already – d’oh!)

Aside from crochet and Chinese, we’ve both been reading a lot. For me this has been real nice: I’ve always loved reading but I’ve found so little time for it the last few years. On the other hand, we’ve had no time for TV/movies. It was 2 weeks after the Super Bowl when I found out who won and we have no idea what’s going on in the news. It kind of feels like we’ve been living in our own world, very much isolated from everyone. Kind of strange at times…

One other thing we’ve been enjoying immensely while traveling: food!! We hardly ever eat out but we’ve been cooking so much more than at home. When at home, we would get back from work and look at each other: no one would feel like cooking so I would end up eating cereal and Joanne would eat Ramen noodles! But now, when we go shopping we load up on fresh veggies/meat and almost every night we end up having something good to eat. For example, today we ate Chinese Brocolli with rice. Yesterday was mini pizzas baked over a campfire. The day before was beef and brocolli stir fry. And before that was Linguine with ground pork, bell peppers, and mushrooms in a tasty Vodka sauce (courtesy of Trader Joes). You can tell we’re certainly not going hungry!

Well, that’s enough rambling for now – here’s some pictures from Sedona!

Mark drove up from Phoenix and visited us in Sedona. It had snowed/rained for the first day so we couldn’t climb: Mark took us on a hike of Mt. Wilson. Here’s a picture from near the trailhead. The trail was super muddy and then there was several feet of snow near the top. After wallowing through snow for a half hour we decided to turn around.

Here’s Sedona’s beautiful red rocks from one of the popular vista points.

Yogi decided to pose for a portrait too! Joanne gave him a haircut just a couple days after this: check out the picture of him farther down the page for comparison. He doesn’t even look like the same dog!

We couldn’t climb in Sedona while waiting for the sandstone to dry out so instead we went skiing for the day in Flagstaff. And in case you don’t believe us, here’s proof that we went skiing in Arizona.

Our first day of climbing in Sedona we wanted to try this route called Mars Attacks! We got slightly lost trying to find the route from our guidebooks description. Hint: don’t take the Devil Bridge Trail, use the small wash a quarter mile up the road. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble! It took us 2 hours but we finally made it to the base of the route. This is Matt leading out on pitch 2, a fun, exposed traverse on a band of limestone.

Looking up pitch 3 of Mars Attacks. This follows a nice crack through a whole bunch of different crack sizes: a real fun pitch. Actually, the whole route was really fun! (although, a bit stiff for 5.8, we thought)

When rapelling down from Mars Attacks we saw this really nice crack (Big Corner 5.10+). We had to climb it! The 2nd pitch (the top is shown here) is amazing, ending with this beautiful fingertip lieback (crux). Unfortunately, the 1st pitch is a bit loose. We heard that Sedona has a lot of loose rock and we found some here!

When Joanne was climbing the first pitch of Big Corner, she stepped on a big rock that came tumbling down towards me. I jumped out of the way but a tree branch caught my shirt and arm. I managed to avoid the rockfall but my shirt (and arm) got shredded pretty bad!

After the close encounter with rockfall, I decided to eat some manly appetizers. A big hunk of sausage on each cracker – yummy.

The Mace was the first rock climb to be completed in Sedona and today, it’s still the most popular. The Mace is the prominent, somewhat mace-looking spire on the left here.

This is me looking down at Joanne from the summit of the Mace. If you can see Joanne’s face, it’s probably not very happy as she’s contemplating how to get from her position to where I’m standing (on the summit). Between us is a three foot gap with 200 feet of air below it. To get across you have to step or lean out over the gap until you reach the other side. Then you step across and climb to the top. It’s completely wild and more than a bit spooky. At first Joanne refused to try it but finally I managed to get her to do it . *Joanne comment* The step over is by far one of the most intimidating thing I have ever done. I kept looking down and yelled at Matt “You got me? You got me??” to buy some time prior to making the move. Instead of hands first (which is what Matt end up doing), I did a foot first and I wasn’t sure if my leg is long enough to bridge the gap or not. Thank god, it’s just long enough .

And just in case you needed proof that Joanne made it to the top, here she is (kind of) smiling next to the summit register. The summit register is bolted to the top and you get to rappel from it to get down! We were surprised to see how few people climbed the route: we made the 2nd ascent of 2008!

A hard-earned rest day spent with the pooch .

Our last day in Sedona, this hot air balloon touched down right near where we were camped.

Route Info + Beta

Climbing Quality: Cool spires but mediocre rock takes some of the “fun” out of it.

Camping: Free but a big inconvenience (several miles outside of town and the climbing). Also worth noting that having an RV around town sucks: the trail head lots are too small to accommodate big vehicles.

Rest Day Activities: Do the tourist thing, look at art galleries, go vortex-hunting, find your inner child.

The Mace (5.9+) is “classic” for a reason. Might make a great climb to humble a “hotshot” climbing partner. I spent 10 minutes trying to find a graceful way through the crux 4th pitch before just muscling and grunting my way through it. Incredibly memorable! Bring two ropes to get down! Also, trying to link pitches might cause more trouble than it’s worth (linking 3+4 causes ridiculous rope drag after the already painful crux).

Mars Attacks 5.8 is a great 4-pitch route. Sustained at the grade and with a sandstone slab, a limestone traverse, and a crack to round things out, the variety will keep you interested! Great protection, mostly bolts but you’ll still need a rack for the 3rd pitch. I can’t remember if it’s required (there are intermediate rappel stations) but we did use two ropes to rappel.

Also worth mentioning is the approach can be a bit confusing. Bloom’s Sedona guidebook has a map showing two possible options: we tried approaching from Devil’s Bridge and got ridiculously lost for 2 hours looking for a trail. Save yourself the trouble by taking the wash that is located maybe a quarter mile past the Devil’s Bridge trailhead. Much easier to find the way!

Sedona

So now we’re finally moving North out of the Phoenix area and we’ve landed in Sedona. We hit a little bump in the weather and it rained for a couple days but the sun is finally out. Sedona is a really beautiful area, somewhat reminiscent of Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, with beautiful Red sandstone poking up everywhere you look. I can see why people would want to retire here – really great views, _slightly_ cooler temperatures than Phoenix and a nice downtown.

We’ve done a few hikes while we’ve been here and we even managed to climb a few routes while we’ve been here, including (of course) The Mace. The rock in the area is certainly a little loose and Joanne knocked down a big piece on one of the routes we were climbing – we’ll post some pictures at a later date!

The only thing that sucks here is the parking: it’s almost impossible to find convenient parking for an RV. The parking lots for trailheads are SMALL and crowded, even on weekdays. Because of this hassle we’re going to be cutting our stay short. It’s a bit dissapointing since we didn’t get to climb everything we wanted to and it really is a pretty area. But anyway, today we’ll be heading North into Oak Creek Canyon and Flagstaff.

Arizona Sampler

It’s been 2 and a half weeks since our last update – whoah! We’ve really been busy and finding a decent internet connection while outside of the city has been pretty much impossible. Right now we’re in Chandler, AZ (just South of Phoenix) and we’re heading North towards Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. But first, let’s catch up on what we’ve been up to!

Soaking up the Southwest in Saguaro National Park… Personally, I wasn’t that excited about the park – you can see Saguaro’s all over the place near Tucson. Oh, a Saguaro Cactus is the big one in the picture above! They have a real nice patch of Ocotillos, though. Unfortunately, they’re not blooming yet.

While visiting Saguaro NP, we swung by Colossal Cave. It’s a commercial cave and we took their cheesy cave tour. It would have been more fun if they let us explore on our own

After visiting the above parks, we spent 9 or 10 days at Mt Lemmon near Tucson. The weather was mostly good and we got some good climbing in! The rock is granite: while not as solid as the stuff in Joshua Tree, you won’t find much loose rock here. Crack systems tend to be discontinuous, when they exist, so a lot of the routes tend to be face climbing with a few finger or hand jams thrown in on occasion. The rock also tends to be hard to read: the holds are small and getting through tricky sections often requires finding a hidden sidepull or some blank smearing. It took us a couple days to really get used to it but by the end we were having a good time. Because of the huge elevation gain up and down the mountain you can find a comfortable spot to climb any time of the year!

Climbing Quality: Roadside, year-round granite cragging. Our top picks: Rupley #4 5.9, Space Cowboy 5.9+, Cripple Creek 5.10-, Centerpiece 5.10-, Four Crows 5.10, Hunchback Arete 5.11a

Camping: $10/night – lots of campgrounds to pick from. No water in the winter.

Most of the climbs are short, just off the highway. This is Hitchcock’s Pinnacle, a short 2 minute stroll from the road. Climbing this guarantees you’ll find your way onto a few tourists’ cameras.

Here’s Matt climbing one of our favorite routes on the Rupley Towers. I think this was called R-3 (5.9) – I think this was climbed in the 60s before they really named routes. It involves an intimidating traverse under a roof then you get to pull over it on great holds – fun!

After 3 or 4 days at Mt Lemmon, a big snowstorm came in and dropped a foot of snow on the top of the mountain. We headed to a lower elevation on the mountain and waited 2 days for things to melt so we could climb again!

Just a couple days after the snowstorm we were back climbing in the sun. This was a crag near Molino Basin called The Ruins – it was a little further away from the highway and provided an amazing view and some fun climbs.

Queen Creek Canyon

After Mt Lemmon, we decided to head back towards the Phoenix area and the Superstition Mountains. But first, a quick trip to Queen Creek Canyon. Queen Creek Canyon has a few strikes against it: it’s next to a noisy highway, there’s a constant threat of vehicle break-ins and the approach to the climbing has garbage all over the place (from the highway). The rock is volcanic tuff and is described as being similar to Smith Rock, our favorite Oregon climbing destination. Maybe they’re both volcanic rock but it’s not quite the same as Smith. The rock at Queen Creek is much more pocketed and maybe a little more sharp: my fingers were numb after the first day of climbing.

Here’s a climber hanging out on Soft Parade (11a) – this was definitely one of the most fun routes we climbed here (and also one of the longest). It’s neighbor to the right, Pocket Puzzle (10a) was even more fun – a improbably steep looking wall with good holds all the way up.

This was the best part about Queen Creek Canyon – the waterfall!! Some locals told us that in the summer it doesn’t really run and the water gets really nasty. But it looked really nice when we were there so I couldn’t resist jumping in and cleaning up a little. The water was coooold but refreshing.

Oak Flat Campground at Queen Creek was quite nice (and free!). There’s even some decent bouldering just a short walk away. Here’s Joanne and Yogi enjoying a hard-earned day of rest.

On our last day in Queen Creek we decided to go climb at Atlantis, a different area than the Pond Walls (where we were climbing previously). Unfortunately, Atlantis was appropriately named and most of the climbs were somewhat submerged. Here’s Matt looking a little downcast. Oh well, guess that’s our cue to move on to our next stop….the Superstition Mountains.

Route Info + Beta
Best Time to Climb? Fall, Winter, Spring. Summer will probably be HOT.

Climbing Quality: Unless you’ve got no other better place to climb, you might want to avoid this place. If you took the highway away this would be an amazing canyon. From what I’ve heard, the climbing areas that are away from the highway are probably worthwhile but we didn’t get a chance to check them out. We heard lots of break-in occur so we constantly have to worry about our car.

Camping: Oak Flat Campground is great. It’s free and just a short bike ride (or 4-wheel drive) from a great boulderfield. No water.

Rest Day Activities: Park off the highway and be a security guard for other climbers, explore the miles of dirt roads heading out from Oak Flat, play on the boulders.

Superstition Mountains

The Superstition Mountains rise East of Phoenix and form some really impressive cliffs. Unfortunately, the rock is pretty lousy and loose rock is everywhere. Consider yourself lucky if you climb a single pitch without finding some loose rock. That being said, there’s no other climbers, fantastic winter weather, and plenty of adventure to be found here!

Here’s an impressive wall near the Peralta Trailhead. We camped in the parking lot here for 4 days. We were tempted to walk up and look for some potential routes but instead we decided just to stick to the routes that were in our guidebook.

The Superstition Mountains are home to the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, a supposed fortune of gold hidden somewhere in the range. Do a search online and you can find some interesting information about the gold – people have come looking for it for over 100 years but no one’s found it yet. According to the legend, you can see Weaver’s Needle from near the gold mine so most people start their search there. Although we weren’t looking for gold, we still decided to check out Weaver’s Needle.

Here’s Weaver’s Needle poking up into the fog. We climbed it the day after it rained and the moisture was still hanging around. Consequently, we didn’t get much of a view at the summit!

Here’s our “view” on the summit of Weaver’s. This canister Joanne is displaying so nicely is the summit log. The climbing route to the top was really easy (just 1 5th class section) but a real enjoyable experience. We met three guys near the top who didn’t have a whole lot of experience (only 1 of them had done any climbing). We helped them down (their rope was too short) although their gung-ho leader slipped and took a nasty slide down the last 20 feet of the gully – ouch! Fortunately, he was OK.

After climbing a few routes on Barks Canyon Wall, we decided to move to the West side of the Superstition mountains and try some “real” adventure routes. The route names were almost as exciting as the routes: The Hand, The Tower, Grandfather Hobgoblin, Hobgoblin Rink. We quickly realized that many of these routes don’t get a whole lot of climbing traffic and would be ideal candidates for bolt replacement. Many of the bolts/anchors are really scary looking.

Matt’s hoping this rusty piece of metal is stronger than it looks…

Usually climbers are forced to evaluate the quality of fixed pro – sometimes it’s more obvious. This is the 1st bolt on the last pitch of Grandfather Hobgoblin. It seems like it would have taken less effort to just replace the bolt than to etch Bad Bolt into a hangar. But what do I know?

All in all, the climbing here tends to be scary and runout. I can’t say I’d “recommend” any of the routes to just anyone but if you’re looking for some adventure, it fits the bill.

Route Info + Beta!
Climbing Quality: Plain + simple: the rock is just not good enough to be “fun”. A solid lead head is a good idea for most routes. Our “top” picks: Weaver’s Needle 5.0, The Hand – Razor’s Edge 5.6, Grandfather Hobgoblin 5.9.

Camping: $12 for Lost Dutchman RV park, showers+water. Primitive camping near Peralta trailhead.

Rest Day Activities: Search for lost gold, check out the local tourist traps (”ghost” towns)

Weavers Needle (5.0) is a great mountaineering route. If you know which way to go, it’s 4th class but a rope will be useful since the last “pitch” to the summit is not obvious (have to walk way left to reach it – the direct finish that we did was low 5th class). Unless you are confident in your downclimbing, you’ll want 2 ropes for the raps down the gully. Even with 2 60-meter ropes you’ll still have a bit of downclimbing (tricky when wet). But at least this last part is unexposed (and we actually got to see someone take the fall here) so I can say with confidence that you’d survive a slip!

Razor’s Edge (5.6) is an easy and well protected route up The Hand. It climbs up a narrow and exposed arete in 2 pitches with a particularly memorable belay stance, made more exciting if you choose to swap leads. I don’t think we used anything but quickdraws for this route; still, a light rack is advisable. As a bonus, the bolts here are in good shape and would actually hold a fall.

Grandfather Hobgoblin (5.9) is mostly moderate mid-5th class with 1 “bolt-protected” 5.9 section on the last pitch. The rock is even pretty good (less loose rock than some of the other routes) but the approach (and descent) up (and then down) the aptly named Suction Gully is miserable. As with everything here, the grade on the last pitch may be a bit old school and the “bad bolts” make it seem harder: we nabbed a few bail biners off this route. Bring two ropes: I recall doing 2 or 3 straight-forwards double rope rappels to get back to the base. Take time to enjoy the rappel anchors on the way down!

The routes on Bark’s Canyon Wall have better than usual rock for the Superstitions but pro wasn’t always perfect. I remember some confusing route finding on The Long Lead (5.8). On the 2nd pitch I stepped right into a solid corner system with 5.8 stemming but mostly non-existent protection for 20 feet. I was reluctant to commit to the moves since the only chalk I saw avoided this section by traversing left. But then Joanne gave me confidence by giving me the best advice you can give to a confused climber: “Stop following chalk and climb like you’re on the first ascent”. I decided the direct approach was a more aesthetic line, pulled the moves, and gave a whoop when I found a place to throw some protection in!

Stroke It Gently (5.10a) (also on Bark’s Canyon Wall) has an awesome looking crescent crack that can be seen during the approach. I discovered this to be one of those routes that was probably more fun to look at than climb: the crack (like most cracks here) is flared and the moves felt awkward.

Whatever route you climb, when you reach the summit of Bark’s Canyon Wall, the only descent is off the backside. Stay roped and traverse right along the top of the wall until you find the bolts (thanks to the unknown soul who replaced one of them!). One rope and one rappel lead you to a convoluted walk off. We followed faint trails with some scrambling to wrap around the formation to end up on left side of the wall (that’s climbers left). Somewhere around an hour or so of bush whacking will lead you back to the base.

Hobgoblin Rink – The Kudo Route (5.7R) starts with a couple fun pitches but gets scarier and looser towards the top starting with a terribly loose 3rd pitch chimney and culminating in the final (4th) pitch where a fall on the crux 4th pitch is almost unthinkable. The old school 5.7 face climbing crux comes 15′ above your last pro, a shaky pink tricam in a pocket. If that blows, you’re probably going for a 100+ foot ride. Whee!

And if you think The Tower (5.8R) might be a fun climb, you might want to reconsider unless you’re looking for an unprotected 5.8 start off the ground (which really wasn’t too bad – hey there’s a tree down there to catch you!). What really got me, though, was the 30-foot runouts on sketchy 5.7 face climbing above sketchier pro on the 2nd pitch (yikes!). There’s a possibility I may have wandered a bit far left on this pitch as I had to delicately move right on terrifyingly loose flakes to get into the final groove. Joanne followed with a different sequence and said “it’s not too bad”. A double-rope rappel will lead you to the saddle behind the formation and solid ground!

After a week of climbing here, you may find yourself wanting to climb something a little bit less “out there”…

Mt Lemmon

So after scaring ourselves silly on the routes at Cochise we decided to do some slightly less committing climbing. So we drove back towards Tucson and we’re currently hanging out on Mt. Lemmon. Despite being in Southern Arizona it gets cooold at night (around freezing). Fortunately, there’s lots of climbing in the sunshine and we’ve been able to get on some fun routes. The climbing here is quite a bit different than Cochise with very short approaches: we just park on the side of the road and walk a few minutes to the climbing.

Right now it looks like the weather is taking a turn for the worse, though, and we might be sitting for the next day or so before we can climb again. Oh well, guess it’ll give us time to catch up on our reading.

Did I mention that there’s a river running at the campground? After so many weeks not having running water, being by the river is such a fortune. Washing dishes is so much easier and we even get to clean ourselves everyday. Yesterday Joanne washed her hair by the river and was screaming each time I poured freezing cold water on her head. She described the cold as if someone is stepping on her head.

Cochise Stronghold

Cochise Stronghold is named for the Apache chief who hid among the Dragoon Mountains in Southeast Arizona, avoiding the US and Mexican authorities while raiding local settlements. He eventually died of natural causes and was buried somewhere hidden among the rocks of his Stronghold. The climbing here is definitely much more “out there” than Joshua Tree: a 1 hour approach is relatively short here. And the routes tend to be intimidating and a bit scary at times. But the rewards for completing a route in such a beautiful and remote area are huge!

These are the Rockfellow Domes, the most prominent features in Cochise. It’s a long, uphill hike to get to the climbs up here. Unfortunately we didn’t get to summit any of these pinnacles. We made an attempt on Endgame, a fun-looking route on End Pinnacle but it was a little too cold. At the top of the 1st pitch I couldn’t feel my fingers at all and we decided it would be more fun to walk all the way back to the car.

This was the view from our camping spot. There was actually a $10/night campground but it had no water, just a pit toilet so we decided why pay for that when we can just camp off the road. It was a nice spot but Joanne describes it as a “hell-hole” with no facilities. That’s maybe why we only stayed here for 5-6 days

One of our favorite routes was called What’s My Line? It goes up the prominent dome on the right side of the above picture. When we were walking to it we thought – “Wow, that looks awfully steep and blank and hard to climb”

A closer look, however, shows a big “rash” going all the way up the dome. And this is what makes climbing in Cochise so unique. Many of the routes climb on these “chickenhead” features which makes for some really bizarre climbing.

Here’s Joanne starting up the 2nd pitch of “What’s My Line?” You can see there’s huge handholds everywhere!

Of course, I said the climbing here was a little intimidating. Even though the climbing on this route is easy it’s a little spicy because the only protection you have is tying off these chickenheads, some of which are a bit sketchy and more “slopey” than you might want.

Here’s a nice chickenhead anchor, Joanne and I were hanging 300 feet off the ground, suspended only by these chickenheads – much fun Actually, they’re probably about as good of an anchor as you’ll find anywhere.

More wild chickenhead climbing!

Here’s Joanne doing the final traverse on What’s My Line? We were rewarded on the summit with a great view.

Route Info + Beta!
Best Time to Climb? Almost year round except for extremes in Summer and Winter.

Climbing Quality: Amazing setting, best chickenheads on Earth, high adventure factor, no crowds. Not for the faint-hearted or for those who hate hiking up hills. Our top picks: What’s My Line? 5.6 A0, Wasteland 5.8-

Camping: No water. $10/night for a pit toilet in the East Stronghold. Free camping is easy to find.

Rest Day Activities: Hike up one of the canyons, search for Cochise’s grave.

The approach to Cochise Dome and What’s My Line? (5.6 A0) is pretty epic. I wasn’t watching the clock but I think it took 2-3 hours for us to reach the base of the route. As you get closer to the route, expect to get lost once or twice trying to find the best way through giant boulder fields. Fortunately, you’re hiking through some of the most beautiful terrain so time passes quickly. The final canyon that slices up through the dome to reach the start of the route is a pretty incredible “hike” by itself, though you might feel the need for a rope at the end.

Committing to the pendulum is mildly terrifying as you step off of a comfortable ledge to an exposed position on the face. The whole first pitch protects a bit sparsely as most of the chickenheads seem a bit “slopey” and will reject most of your efforts to wrap a sling around them. This all changes on the second pitch which is simply incredible: huge chickenheads that just beg to be slung everywhere you look!

The Wasteland (5.8-) is similar to What’s My Line? with a couple pitches of slinging chicken heads. Perhaps it’s not quite as wild as What’s My Line but the climbing is more diverse and has the advantage of a “short” 45 minute approach. Expect route finding issues on pitch 1. My only advice is to not follow the right-facing corner: I found it to be wet and rotten with some scary moves required to get on route. I think the route is supposed to go someplace left of this corner. Once you are past this pitch, enjoy, as the rest of the route protects beautifully!

Owl Rock (5.9) is a fun 1-pitch route on a cool-looking leaning tower. And with one of the shortest approaches here, it might get more traffic than anything else in the area. The route manages to wrap up the “Cochise experience” into a single climb, with a few chickenheads, a little bit of spiciness, a free-hanging rappel, and a great setting.

Enjoy: this is a special place and of all the places we visited during our travels, this is the one we hope to return to first!